Wife to an Army veteran, mother of four, rescuer of animals, lover of history, and general scribe.
Bestselling books: Rebekah's Quilt (Amish fiction, first in a series), A Heart on Hold (historical romance, first in a series), The ABC's of Oklahoma Plants (children's nonfiction), The ABC's of Texas Plants (children's nonfiction), and The Big Bad Wolf Really Isn't so Big and Bad (children's nonfiction).

It was hot yesterday as we drove Highway 277 from Odessa, TX
back to Fort Sill, OK.The three kids in
the back were fussing and I was playing on my cell phone as my husband drove
the long stretch of rural highway that would take us home.Besides us, the only other vehicle on the
road was a giant gray Ford Dually who was zipping along in front of us.The relative calm was shattered in an instant
when my husband turned to me, mouth agape.

“I think that guy just threw a cat out the window.”

I just stared at him, not comprehending what had just
happened.

“Oh my God, he’s flinging kittens out the window, there went
another one!” he exclaimed, pulling our car over and grinding to a sudden halt.I got out and began running back down the
highway, looking in the brush along the side of the road for any kittens.

Seeing us pull over, the Dually squealed its tires and
roared out of sight.

My husband found a turn-around and sped back to where a tiny
gray kitten hunkered in the road.He and
I got there at the same time.He handed
me the bloody gray mess and dashed off down the road on foot.

As I held the gray kitten, her eye began bleeding.And swelling. A cut was visible on her head and down her
ear.Bloody froth lined her mouth and
bubbled out of her nose.I cradled her
against me as my elementary-aged daughter wailed from the car window.A warmth soaked my shirt under the tiny cat …
more blood.

My husband returned a moment later with the little blonde
kitten.Her eye was also bloody. Despite
having been flopping like a fish out of water on the blacktop moments before, she
appeared not to have been shattered by the hellish fall.Quite the contrary, this little kitten was
proving to be a fighter, tearing my husband’s forearms with her tiny, tar-filled claws and
teeth.Why tar-filled claws?Because she’d skidded along the road for
awhile.

Getting back into the car, my husband nestled the blonde
kitten in his lap while I held the little gray one in the crook of my arm.She was trembling as bloody tears dripped off
her nose and she appeared to be having trouble breathing.

“I fear this one won’t make it,” I told my three small
kids.“Let’s pray.”

And pray we did.We
asked God to keep the kittens from feeling too much pain and for the man who
threw them out the window to realize the error of his ways and grow a
compassionate heart.We asked St.
Francis to pray for the little kittens, too.

We passed a run-over adult cat then that was just too out of
place in the remote countryside.We
figured her to be the Mama.

Speeding down the highway, we didn’t catch up to the truck,
but did give the two kittens their names.Karma and Francis.

Though the cell service was sketchy, we were able to contact
my mom who dropped what she was doing and pulled up a list of veterinarians in
Seymour, Wichita Falls, and Burkburnett.Every single veterinary answering service that answered on this holiday
weekend informed us that, since we weren’t established patients in their
practice, they would not patch our call through to the vet.I was unable to respond – my mouth was
hanging open too wide to speak.Especially when I was told this same spiel over and over and over.

Finally, we called the emergency vet at Gore West Animal
Hospital in Lawton, which was still an hour away, and told Dr. Molinaro of our
plight.She and her tech agreed to meet
us at the clinic and do their best to save the kittens.

With the vet problem solved, we turned back to the phone and
thanks to the googling skills of my mom, were able to get ahold of the Sheriff’s
department in Knox County, Texas.The
Deputy I spoke with was wonderful and vowed to do what he could to locate the
truck involved.He felt the perp was an
out-of-towner who had perhaps been trying to get rid of the kittens, probably
at an Abilene Wal-Mart or something of the sort, before disposing of the
residual kittens by tossing them out the window of the moving truck.He wished we had been able to get a license
plate number.We wished that, too.

So if any of you know of anyone who was getting rid of
kittens in or around Abilene, Texas on Sunday, May 27, 2012, and drives a giant
gray or silver Ford Dually, probably late 80’s to early 90’s model, with all the
bells and whistles, contact me so we can get in touch with the Knox County
Sheriff, or contact them directly at 940-458-2211.Thank you so much.

The fleas were hopping off the little kittens by the time we
made it to the vet’s office. Karma, the
blonde one, was treated first.Weighing in at one pound, Dr. Molinaro
determined to be underweight since healthy kittens should weigh at least two pounds
by 6-8 weeks of age.Ear mites?Yes, she had them.Chunks of rock from her skid along the road
embedded in her eye?Yes, she had that
too.Fleas and ticks?Check.A cut on her back leg and bottom?Got that, too.Thankfully, that
was where Karma’s laundry list of problems ends.Then, it was Francis’s turn.

The little gray kitty was much worse off, having obviously
landed on her head.She also was
determined to be underweight.Then, she
was treated for ear mites, fleas and ticks, and had debris cleaned out of her
bloody eye. This eye is still much too
swollen to tell if she was blinded in the fall or not.Miraculously, no bones were broken and her
heart and lungs sounded fine.In
addition to the gashes on her ear and head, her bottom was extremely
lacerated.When she was thrown though,
sweet Francis skidded along the road on her face first, ripping her bottom lip
away from her jaw bone.

Then we got the bill.Even though Dr. Molinaro gave us a break by charging the emergency fee
for one animal instead of both, the total still came to $575.I can’t help but feel the guy in the gray
dually who caused this whole mess in the first place should have to foot the
bill, but we all know that will never be the case.

The vet kept Francis and stitched her lip back on the best
she could since there wasn’t much to stitch it to, only bone.My husband rushed back to the vet office after
the procedure to pick up Francis and Karma.It was already 10 p.m., but he couldn’t stand the thought of the two traumatized
kittens having to stay in a kennel at the vet’s office the duration of the
holiday weekend.

If you would like to donate to the vet bills accrued by
these two helpless little kittens, please visit my website http://www.sarabarnardbooks.com and go to Sara's Bio page with instructions on how to donate.Those who donate will be acknowledged on both this blog and my website.Thank you so, so much from all
of us, and Francis and Karma, too.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

If you are out identifying plants only to find yourself disoriented next to a field of Compass plants, the first thing you do is have a seat under the monster sunflower-wannabes and enjoy a break in the shade.Next, make a mental note to take a buddy flower-hunting with you next time, as another golden rule of the backcountry is to always go hiking in pairs.Third, harvest some sap from the Compass plant and let it dry in the sun while you are waiting for somebody to find you.You can chew this sap like gum and it will help pass the time.

If you are fairly confident that you can find your way back home before you would be missed, use

the north-south orientation of the Compass plant leaves to give you an idea of which way you should go.

Then, judge the amount of daylight left by holding four fingers of your hand up parallel with the horizon,

counting the number of fingers it takes to fill in the space between the horizon and the sun.